The Missing Semicolon

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1 The Missing Semicolon TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE ANCE FOR THE SAS SOFTW TWARE PROFESSIONAL Volume 8, Number 2 Summer 2006 SAS/IntrNet & Javascript SAS/Intrnet allows end users to run SAS programs through a web interface and can be a perfect tool for non-sas users. The interface web page created by a programmer for the end-user has parameters set up in HTML that the end user passes to the SAS program to customize the results. The simplicity of HTML, however, limits the user-friendliness of SAS/IntrNet interfaces and the complexity of the reports they can generate. By using JavaScript along with SAS, a programmer will have more flexibility when creating reports and interfaces. In particular, one of our favorite uses of JavaScript is to create dynamic drop-down menus based on information in SAS datasets. Before we look at the code necessary to create dynamic drop-down menus, an overview will be given on SAS/Intrnet and JavaScript. Quick Overview of SAS/IntrNet SAS/IntrNet allows people who are unfamiliar with SAS to run report programs and view the results in their web browser. SAS/IntrNet runs on a server which awaits instructions from a user indicating which SAS programs to run, what options to use, and where the results should appear (typically back in the user's browser). The most common interface for SAS/IntrNet is a static HTML file with different input options in the form of text boxes, radio buttons, drop-down menus, etc. The values are passed to the SAS program that is run on the server as macro variables. The resulting report usually returns to the user's browser. PC HTML INPUT PAGE SAS/IntrNet Server SAS notices _WEBOUT keyword, sends results of _WEBOUT file back to user s screen For example, a user might be presented with an HTML page that has one text box saying What variable do you wish to see? The user might type in ACCTNUMBER and click SUBMIT. The value ACCTNUMBER is passed to the SAS program as a macro variable by the SAS/Intrnet Server. The program would run and the results are passed back to the web browser. Macro variables passed through a web interface can be used by SAS programs for a variety of functions, some of which include: Selecting report or program to run Subsetting data Customizing look of report Entering information into a dataset The results, in HTML format, are usually returned back to the browser of the person who submitted the reports. In the SAS code, this can be specified in two different places: either on the FILE= option on the ODS HTML statement or on the FILE= statement in a data _NULL_ step if the programmer has hard-coded the HTML statements directly into the program. An example of a report generated with ODS, HTML and SAS/Intrnet might look like: ODS HTML FILE=_WEBOUT; PROC PRINT DATA=MYDATA.TEST; WHERE STATE="&MYSTATE"; ODS HTML CLOSE; Instead of using ODS to create an output file, an HTML file can be generated with PUT statements typed into a text editor. The completed document can be sent to the user s browser by using the same _WEBOUT keyword used in the ODS Continued on page 2... PC Finished report displayed as HTML document 2997 Yarmouth Greenway Drive Madison, WI train@sys-seminar.com IN THIS ISSUE SAS/Intrnet & Javascript Alan Maas...Page 1 President's Letter... Steve First...Page 2 Open Positions......Page 2 Quick Tip... Sarah Chronquist...Page 3 SAS/Intrnet Class......Page 4 Quick Tip... Tom Miron...Page 5 Dear Ms. Sassy......Page 6 Training At Your Business Location......Page 6 Cognos Consulting......Page 7 Technical Credit and Recognition...Page 8 SAS Training Solutions......Page 8 1

2 Letter From the President Dear SAS User: It w After several sluggish years, the IT community is enjoying the best economy in several years. We have seen a great increase in open IT positions, contract work, and training. In the SAS world, the traditional SAS applications are more vibrant and dependable than ever, and exciting new enhancements and products are becoming more and more popular. SAS Business Intelligence is now one of the most popular BI products. The SAS developers assure us that they are well aware of the features of competitive BI systems, and they are working very hard to become the number one BI provider. Systems Seminar Consultants has been working with clients to implement and optimized the SAS Business Intelligence Suite. We have also just added a new SAS Enterprise Guide class to our curriculum. Enterprise Guide 4.0 allows the casual users to generate SAS code via wizards and menus, and it offers more functionality than ever before. Experienced SAS users can also use EG to alter generated code, or they can use it to write and alter SAS programs. EG gives welcome shortcuts that simplify management of data and libraries. Libraries, SAS datasets, Excel data, and raw data and can be very confusing to many new SAS users, and EG does a nice job of eliminating tedious coding for those new users. We are very excited about the addition of this innovative product to our training curriculum. We enjoy helping clients get the most out of their SAS products, whether it be just Base SAS to the vertical BI line! SAS/IntrNet & Javascript (CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1) HTML statement. Using an input variable that we can now access as a macro variable, the following sample SAS program will generate the skeleton of an HTML document: DATA _NULL_; FILE _WEBOUT; PUT "<HTML>"; PUT "<HEAD>"; PUT "</HEAD>"; PUT "<BODY>"; PUT "The text you typed in was &MY_VAR"; PUT "</BODY>"; PUT "</HTML>"; This program returns an HTML document with SAS/IntrNet that displays The text you typed in was ACCTNUMBER after a user passed the value ACCTNUMBER to the data_null_ step. Using the same basic idea, several macro variables can be sent to a program which uses the values of the variables to subset data or create interesting reports. For example, a user might type in the name of a variable in order to get its values or type in a minimum dollar account and get all accounts with at least that balance, or type in an ID number and get the associated customer information. While there are several solutions to most reporting needs, with HTML and JavaScript you can truly enhance your ability to create dynamic content for end-users. Quick Overview of JavaScript Technically speaking, JavaScript is a cross-platform, object-oriented scripting language that can be interpreted by browsers while embedded in HTML code. More practically speaking, JavaScript allows you to treat most HTML content like objects in a more powerful programming language. Open Positions Looking for Well-Qualified candidates in: Madison Minneapolis Chicago From developer to programmer to analyst opportunities, we will find the right fit for you. Apply online at: Copyright 2006 Systems Seminar Consultants, Inc. Madison, WI. All rights reserved. Printed in USA. The Missing Semicolon is a trademark of Systems Seminar Consultants, Inc. SAS, SAS/IntrNet, and SAS/ACCESS are registered trademarks or trademarks of SAS Institute Inc. in the USA and other countries. 2

3 Some of the most common uses of JavaScript are creating and manipulating variables, creating user defined functions which can be run on triggers (onclick, onmouseover etc), using built in math and string functions, accessing arrays and using them in drop-down menus, and changing almost any option or setting of any HTML object. JavaScript also uses a great namespace convention. Objects are referenced by parent.child.option-like statements. For example, first a form might be named, then an input variable and finally the option that can be changed. So myform.mypicture.src= picture2.jpg ; would change the mypicture <img> object from whatever it was displaying to picture2.jpg. Even more simply, the keyword this can be used to reference an object the user is already in. This is usually used within triggers, because a this reference makes sense in that context. For example, onfocus= this.value= Enter Name ; would allow a default value to show up when someone clicked on a text box in which they were supposed to enter their name. The internet is a great source for examples and tutorials. Several wonderful JavaScript sites that offer free tutorials and working examples of code are available. There are three conventional ways to use JavaScript within HTML. The first is to use <script> code </script>. All code within the script tags will be interpreted as JavaScript code. To be safe, you can also use <script language= ></script> to specify a version of JavaScript. Another way to use JavaScript code is to use <script src= path/filename.js ></script>. This is equivalent to a %INCLUDE statement in SAS. The.js file is read in and all of its code is included in the HTML file. This can be used several times for several different JavaScript files. There is nothing special about the.js file. You can create one in notepad and save it with a.js extension. The final way to implement JavaScript code is through event handlers or triggers. In an object, if you specify an event handler such as onclick= stuff whatever is in the parentheses will automatically be executed as JavaScript code when the event is triggered. We will focus on the last two ways to use code in the example. Creating Dynamic Drop-Down Menus Most Internet users have probably used dynamic drop-down menus on a regular basis. Searching for a car? If you ve used a menu that first allows you to select the manufacturer and then populates a second menu with that manufacturer s models you ve used a dynamic dropdown menu. Without JavaScript or another scripting language, we would get this functionality in SAS/Intrnet by either showing all car models on the second drop-down regardless of what manufacturer was selected in the first, or, more likely, having the selection broken out to two screens. The user would first enter the manufacturer and then hit submit. A second drop-down list would be returned from SAS (ased on values in a dataset, asking the user to next select the car model. Just as SAS, through SAS/Intrnet, was used to create the second drop-down list, we can also use SAS to create a JavaScript file based on the data which will allow the user to make all their selections on one easy to understand form. By using SAS to create the.js file used in the SAS/IntrNet HTML reporting front-end, the interface dynamically QUICK TIP These features are new for SAS version 9. First, import an Excel spreadsheet with a libname statements and set the specific options. Then, point to workbook using Excel engine. You must have SAS/ACCESS Interface to PC Files licensed and installed at your site to use the Microsoft Excel libname engine. LIBNAME myxls C:\temp\sales.xls ; GETNAMES = YES NO Determine whether SAS will use the first row of data in a Microsoft Excel worksheet or range as column names. YES use the first row of data or range as column names NO do not use the first row of data. SAS generates variable names: F1, F2, etc. The default is YES. USEDATE = YES NO This Specifies whether to use the DATE9. format for date/time values in Excel workbooks. YES date/time values assigned DATE9. format. NO date/time values assigned DATETIME. format. The default is YES. changes the instant any data changes. Users will always have the most current selections available. This example will show how to turn a SAS dataset with relational data into a dynamic drop-down menu that can be implemented in current reporting interfaces within SAS/IntrNet. Everything shown here can be contained within one SAS program that is run whenever the reporting interface is accessed. First the.js file needs to be created: DATA MYDATA; SET MYORIGINALDATA; RENAME VARIABLE_X=PRIMARY; RENAME VARIABLE_Y=SECONDARY; PROC SQL NOPRINT; SELECT COUNT(DISTINCT PRIMARY)+1 INTO :NUMBTYPES FROM MYDATA; QUIT; %LET NUMBTYPES=&NUMBTYPES; PROC SORT DATA = MYDATA; BY PRIMARY SECONDARY; The variables used in creating the JavaScript and HTML files are aptly named primary and secondary (think of it as primary = manufacturer, secondary = model). Simply changing the set statement to include your own dataset and renaming the appropriate variables will allow you to use the rest of the code. The SQL statement retrieves the number 3

4 of different types (or manufacturers). Type is the higher level menu when it is referred to as such. For some of the loops just ahead, this value is important for setting up values of an array. Finally, the data is sorted so it looks ordered in the menus. DATA _NULL_; FILE JSOUT; IF _N_=1 THEN PUT " VAR GROUP= NEW ARRAY(&NUMBTYPES);"; PUT " FOR (I=0; I<&NUMBTYPES; I++)"; PUT " {"; PUT " GROUP[I]=NEW ARRAY();"; PUT " GROUP[I][0]=NEW OPTION( ---PLEASE SELECT A SECONDARY---, );"; PUT " }"; The code above starts the.js file. The filename statement for JSOUT can point to any flat file, as long as you use the same path later when accessing the created file. First an array called group is created, with a first dimension size equal to the number of types in the data. This will store all of the related values. The loop then creates an array for each type that will hold each specific token (model). The second statement within the loop sets the first value of every token array as the default value Please select a secondary. The IF _n_=1 piece of code ensures that the lines are input only once. If left off, the data step can create redundant code in the.js file. This method is used more than once in the example and is often the reason for non-intuitive END statements. DO UNTIL (ENDLIST=1); SET MYDATA END=ENDLIST; BY PRIMARY; IF FIRST.PRIMARY THEN N+1; M+1; PUT " GROUP[ " N " ][ " M " ]=NEW OPTION( " SECONDARY ", ANY VALUE );"; IF LAST.PRIMARY THEN M=0; In this code, the values of our two-dimensional array are set. The variable n represents the position of the primary values and m represents the position of the secondary values. The new Option statement is a JavaScript keyword that creates a label and value in an array position. Thus, the value of the current secondary field will be what is actually displayed in the drop-down menu to the user, and any value will be the value behind the scenes associated with that choice. This can be changed to anything, which is why it is hard-coded here as such. Perhaps a label of less than 30,000 would have a value of le to be used in reporting. This value is what is sent to SAS as a macro variable when another SAS program is run from these results. IF _N_=1 THEN PUT "FUNCTION INIT()"; PUT "{"; PUT " DOCUMENT.MAINFORM.PRIMARY.OPTIONS[0] = NEW OPTION( SELECT TYPE, 0');"; IF _N_ = 1 THEN DO UNTIL (ENDLIST2=1); SET MYDATA END=ENDLIST2; BY PRIMARY; IF FIRST.PRIMARY THEN K+1; PUT " DOCUMENT.MAINFORM.PRIMARY.OPTIONS[" K "]= NEW OPTION( " PRIMARY ", ANY VALUE );"; PUT " }"; Because the values on the first drop-down menu will never change in the session, those values can be coded based on the data right when the page loads. For that reason, the function is called init(). In the HTML page sent back to the user, init() is run onload. This initializes all the values of the first drop-down menu to all distinct primary values in our dataset. The JavaScript code document.mainform.primary.options[n]= points to a drop-down menu called primary within a form called main within the document. The.options portion tells the drop-down menu that we are creating a new menu choice with the following label and value. PUT " function populate(x)"; PUT " {"; PUT " var formfield=document.mainform.secondary;"; PUT " for(m=formfield.options.length-1;m>0;m--)"; PUT " formfield.options[m]=null;"; PUT " for(i=0;i<group[x].length;i++)"; PUT " {"; PUT "formfield.options[i] = new Option (group[x][i].text, group[x][i].value);"; PUT " }"; PUT " formfield.options[0].selected=true;"; PUT " }"; SAS/Intrnet Class This course will be customized for your SAS /Intrnet Environment At Your Site Setup Convert a Program for Your Site HTML Creating Forms HTML Output from SAS Exporting to Excel Introduction to SAS Macros HTML ODS Styles SAS Ò Styles Cascading Stylesheets Troubleshooting Call to discuss details! 4

5 The populate function does the grunt work of this process. As you will see in the HTML page, we code this function to run onchange within the primary drop-down menu. This means that any time the primary drop-down menu changes, populate is run. In other words, populate completely empties out the secondary drop-down menu and refills it with the corresponding values of the new primary selection. Thus, if the current primary selection is Toyota, the secondary menu will contain things like Corolla, Camry, etc. If you change the value of the first menu to Honda, populate() will empty out the secondary menu and fill it with Civic, Accord etc. PUT "<BODY onload= init(); >"; PUT "<FORM NAME= mainform >" PUT "<SELECT name= primary onchange = populate(this.options.selectedindex) >"; PUT "</SELECT>"; PUT "<SELECT name= secondary ><option value= selected> Please select a primary first </ option>"; PUT "</SELECT>"; PUT "</FORM>"; PUT "</BODY>"; PUT "</HTML>"; DATA _NULL_; FILE _WEBOUT; PUT "<HTML>"; PUT "<HEAD>"; PUT "<SCRIPT src= filepath/filename.js language = JavaScript > </SCRIPT>"; PUT "</HEAD>"; Sample Results: SAS Consulting Services Recently Purchased SAS Business Intelligence Products? We Can Help with SAS BI! Architectural Design Administration New Application Development or Enhancements Training Extensive SAS Experience Data Systems Development Decision Support and Business Consultation Data Manipulation Report Design Development Web-enablement. Consulting Partners of the SAS Institute. SAS Certified Professionals New Cognos Consulting Partners Support for Products Includes: PowerPlay ReportNet Call for your Personalized Solution! Coding the HTML is generally much easier than coding the JavaScript file. This code creates a page with two drop-down menus on it named primary and secondary. It calls a function init() when the page is loaded and it uses the.js file that was just created. When the first drop-down menu changes, it clears out the second menu and replaces it with new values associated with the current selection. The selectedindex keyword is required to send a numeric value to the populate function to tell it the position of the currently selected member of the first drop-down menu. We now have a system in which one drop-down menu depends on the other for content. Once you understand and can replicate this code, it can be used anywhere in the same manner by changing the dataset that is accessed and renaming the appropriate variables to primary and secondary. Furthermore, a third menu contingent on the second can be created in the same way. Using JavaScript and SAS/Intrnet together makes for a flexible and fun reporting solution. QUICK TIP To enclose code or text within a block comment, highlight the selected code and press Ctrl+/ To remove a block comment, highlight the selected code and press Ctrl+Shift+/ This works in the SAS enhanced editor. 5

6 Dear Ms. Sassy... CPU TIME 51 ; SECONDS Sorted Non-SAS Datasets From time to time I am asked about sorting and efficiency, particularly when utilizing non-sas datasets. Dear Ms. Sassy, I know sorting is inefficient. I have a program that reads a non-sas data set. It is already in the sequence I need. I use a sort step so that SAS knows it is sorted. Is there some way to tell SAS that the data is already sorted so that I don t have to sort the data set? Sincerely, Out of Sorts 54 PROC CONTENTS; NOTE: PROCEDURE CONTENTS USED: REAL TIME 0.02 SECONDS CPU TIME 0.02 SECONDS 55 PROC SORT DATA=TEMP; 56 BY PRIORITY; 57 NOTE: INPUT DATA SET IS ALREADY SORTED, NO SORTING DONE. NOTE: PROCEDURE SORT USED: REAL TIME 0.00 SECONDS CPU TIME 0.00 SECONDS Dear Out of Sorts, There is a data set option called SORTEDBY that you can use when creating your SAS data set. The example below has three steps. The first step reads in the non-sas data set and uses the SORTEDBY data set option on the DATA statement. The second step is a PROC CONTENTS step. The output indicates that the data set IS sorted. The third step is a PROC SORT step. The log indicates that the data set was not sorted because it is already in the sort sequence. Note: if you do use the SORTEDBY option to specify the sequence, but the data set is NOT in that order, you will receive an out of sequence error in your log when you try to use it in a step that requires sorting. SORTEDBY OPTION 14:10 TUESDAY, APRIL 18, THE CONTENTS PROCEDURE DATA SET NAME:WORK.TEMP OBSERVATIONS: 8 MEMBER TYPE: DATA VARIABLES: 4 Engine: V8 Indexes: 0 CREATED: 14:10 TUESDAY, APRIL 18, 2006 OBSERVATION LENGTH: 24 SAS Training at Your Business Location Introduction to SAS SAS Efficiencies LOG INFORMATION: SAS Report Writing Mainframes Made Easy 30 /* SORTEDBY DATA SET OPTION */ 31 OPTIONS NOCENTER; 32 TITLE SORTEDBY OPTION ; DATA TEMP 35 (SORTEDBY=PRIORITY 36 DESCENDING INDATE); 37 PRIORITY 1. INDATE DATE7. OFFICE $2. CODE $3. ; 41 FORMAT INDATE DATE7.; 42 DATALINES; NOTE: THE DATA SET WORK.TEMP HAS 8 OBSERVATIONS AND 4 VARIABLES. NOTE: DATA STATEMENT USED: REAL TIME 0.02 SECONDS Introduction to PROC Report The SAS SQL Procedure Advanced SAS Using SAS/ACCESS with Relational Databases Advanced Macros Tips, Tricks, & SAS Techniques Exploiting the SAS Output Delivery System SAS Macros View our course catalog at Call to discuss details! 6

7 LAST MODIFIED: 14:10 TUESDAY, APRIL 18, 2006 DELETED OBSERVATIONS: 0 PROTECTION: COMPRESSED: NO DATA SET TYPE: SORTED: YES LABEL: --ENGINE/HOST DEPENDENT INFORMATION-- DATA SET PAGE SIZE: 4096 NUMBER OF DATA SET PAGES: 1 FIRST DATA PAGE: 1 MAX OBS PER PAGE: 168 OBS IN FIRST DATA PAGE: 8 NUMBER OF DATA SET REPAIRS: 0 FILE /NAME: C:\SAS TEMPORARY FILES\_TD2688\TEMP.SAS7BDAT RELEASE CREATED: M0 HOST CREATED: WIN_PRO --ALPHABETIC LIST OF VARIABLES AND ATTRIBUTES-- # VARIABLE TYPE LEN POS FORMAT CODE CHAR INDATE NUM 8 8 DATE7. 3 OFFICE CHAR PRIORITY NUM SORT INFORMATION-- SORTEDBY: PRIORITY DESCENDING INDATE VALIDATED: NO CHARACTER SET: ANSI Since the sorting of the data is unnecessary, you can leave the PROC SORT step out completely. Sincerely, Ms. Sassy Recently Purchased SAS Business Intelligence Products? We Can Help with SAS BI! Architectural Design Administration New Application Development or Enhancements Training Call to discuss details! Dates and Substrings I recently received an from one of our former students: Dear Ms. Sassy, Does Substring work with date fields? I have the following logic: TODAY = DATE(); YR4 = YEAR(TODAY); YR2 = SUBSTR(YR,4,3,2); PUT _ALL_; When I look at the PDV information, it shows YR4 = 2006, but YR 2= BLANK. Sincerely, Out of Date Dear Out of Date, You cannot use the SUBSTR function on numeric fields. Remember that numeric variables, including SAS date fields, are stored as 8-byte floating point, not text strings. A numeric variable needs to be converted to a character value by using the PUT function to use the SUBSTR function. Please note that YR4 is a numeric variable and YR2 is a character variable. I am not sure how you intend to use the YR variable, but if you need the 2-character year, you can use the following code. The run log is shown below. PROGRAM: DATA _NULL_; TODAY = DATE(); YR4 = YEAR(TODAY); YR2 = SUBSTR(PUT(YR4,Z4.),3,2); PUT _ALL_; LOG: 34 DATA _NULL_; 35 TODAY = DATE(); 36 YR4 = YEAR(TODAY); 37 YR2 = SUBSTR(PUT(YR4,Z4.),3,2); 38 PUT _ALL_; TODAY=16891 YR4=2006 YR2=06 _ERROR_=0 _N_=1 Sincerely, Ms. Sassy Cognos Consulting Partners Support for Products Includes: ReportNet Report Design Project Specifications Project Management Data Modeling PowerPlay Programming Report Creation Final Documentation End-User Training Call to discuss details! 7

8 SAS Training Solutions at Your Business Location Complimentary Follow-up Help Desk Competitive Prices Customized Materials & Courses Quality Training Nationwide We train over 1,000 Students Each Year Across the Country! New This Fall... Enterprise Guide Interested in training...unsure of how to coordinate? Have your SAS users take our training survey at We ll compile reports to minimize expenses & maximize results View our Course Catalog at Call ext. 306 to discover your SAS training solution. TECHNICAL CREDIT AND RECOGNITION Steve First President Sarah Chronquist Trainer/Consultant Jennifer First Editor Katie Ronk Director of Operations Rosalind Gusinow Trainer/Consultant Kathleen Nosal Editor 8